Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good Read cover art

Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good Read

Book Cougars Podcast: Two Middle-Aged Women on the Hunt for a Good Read

Written by: Book Cougars
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Chris and Emily discuss books and literary adventures2016-2018 Art
Episodes
  • Episode 260 - Buddy Reading with Our Mystery Man John Valeri

    Episode 260 - Buddy Reading with Our Mystery Man John Valeri
    May 19 2026
    Welcome to Episode 260! It’s another 10th episode, which means we have a GIVEAWAY for newsletter subscribers. One lucky subscriber of our free monthly newsletter will win hardcover copies of: Agnes Sharp and the Wedding to Die For by Leonie Swann, translated by Amy Bojang Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson Subscribe by May 21 to be entered to win–there’s a link in the shownotes, or go directly to our website. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on May 22, 2026. It will come as no surprise that we talk about A LOT of books in this two-hour episode. First of all, we went to The Northshire Book Festival: A Weekend in Booktopia, where we saw the following authors talk about their new books: All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan Crucible by John Sayles Dreamt I Found You by Jimin Han Little Movements by Lauren Morrow Mrs. Benedict Arnold by Emma Parry Pollock’s Last Lover by Stephen P. Kiernan Take It From Me by Alia Hannah Habib The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush by Susan Gregg Gilmore Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer Whidbey by T Kira Madden Booktopia is our favorite Biblio Adventure, and we hope Northshire does it again next year! And then JOHN VALERI, Our Mystery Man, joins us to talk about Buddy Reads! Emily and John discuss WELCOME TO THE HYUNAM-DONG BOOKSHOP by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan. Chris and John talk about Patricia Cornwell’s new memoir, TRUE CRIME, and their reread of her Scarpetta series. If you’d like to get together with us to talk about FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE by Fannie Flagg, we still have a couple of spots available for our June 7th discussion. Email us at hello@bookcougars.com. We hope you enjoy this mammoth episode as much as we enjoyed recording it. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode260
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    2 hrs and 6 mins
  • Episode 259 - Busted by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Episode 259 - Busted by Nathaniel Hawthorne
    May 5 2026
    Welcome to Episode 259! We got a lot of reading done since the last episode: 📖 Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, translated by Shanna Tan 📖 The Body Farm: Scarpetta #5 by Patricia Cornwell 📖 The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout 📖 All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun 📖 Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom 📖 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke In Biblio Adventures, Chris celebrated Independent Bookstore Day at The Book Barn in Niantic and at Bank Square Books in Mystic. Emily visited her son in Colorado and had a productive workday at the Carbondale Public Library, one of her favorites. She also discovered a speakeasy-style cocktail bar and restaurant at the Denver airport – it’s in the A gates behind a facade of book-filled bookshelves! The facade holds real books that are a take-one-leave-one library. This year is the 35th anniversary of the movie adaptation of Fannie Flag’s novel, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE, which just so happens to be our second quarter readalong pick. There will be showings at major theater chains this month, so check out your local listings. There are a few spots left for our June 7th discussion of the novel and movie (7 pm ET). Email us – hello@bookcougars.com – if you’d like to participate. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode259
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Episode 258 - Author Spotlight with Heather Harper Ellett

    Episode 258 - Author Spotlight with Heather Harper Ellett
    Apr 21 2026
    Welcome to Episode 258! In a first for Book Cougars Author Spotlights, we welcome back an author not to discuss their next book, but to learn about why and how their first novel is being published for a second time – with a new publisher and a new ending! We enjoyed Heather Harper Ellett’s debut novel, AIN’T NOBODY NOBODY, and were thrilled to invite her back to talk about the new life being breathed into her fantastic literary mystery, which also now has an audiobook version. Don’t miss our conversation, which follows our regular segments. We finished/DNF’d some good/okay reads since last time: – PET SEMATARY by Stephen King – THE GOLDEN BOY by Patricia Finn – TRUE CRIME: A Memoir by Patricia Cornwell – RAISING HARE by Chloe Dalton – SHOELESS JOE JACKSON COMES TO IOWA: Stories by W.P. Kinsella In Biblio Adventures, we visited some fabulous independent and used bookstores: –CT: River Bend Bookshop’s new location in West Hartford; Grey Matter Books, the Book Trader Cafe, and Atticus Bookstore Cafe in New Haven –MA: Papercuts Bookshop in Jamaica Plain, Boston –NYC: Pickle Books and P&T Knitwear Books on the Lower East Side And check out Emily’s conversation with author Rebecca Kauffman about her novel THE RESERVATION over on Ingredient One. As always, we talk about more books and #biblioadventures than we list here. We hope you enjoy the episode and check out the show notes for links to all/most of the books, movies, and places that we mention. Happy Listening and Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode258
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    1 hr and 54 mins
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